Knowledge without Borders and Districts & Villages Affairs Department Discuss Ways to Enhance Joint Cooperation

Collaboration aims to facilitate the ‘Home Library’ initiative

Sharjah, April 11th, 2016: A delegation from Knowledge without Borders (KWB), The Sharjah-based cultural project that aims to establish reading as a habit in every household in the UAE, visited Al Mughaider Suburb Council in Sharjah.

Headed by Rashid Al Kous, General Manager of KWB, the delegates met Sheikh Majid bin Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Director of Districts  and Village Affairs Department, (DVAD),  in the Emirate of Sharjah, as well as some members of the District Councils.

The visit was aimed at discussing ways of enhancing joint cooperation between KWB and DVAD and its councils. A particular focus was on how the entities could work together to meet KWB’s goal of establishing libraries in every Emirati household and supplying these private book collections with the very best titles in a variety of genres suitable for the entire family.

Sheikh Majid bin Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi welcomed the delegates and thanked them for the great efforts they are undertaking to achieve the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, which aims to promote a love of literature in every household and organisation in Sharjah and the UAE.

Sheikh Majid bin Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi stressed that DVAD is keen to cooperate with government organisations and authorities in the emirate by implementing joint projects and initiatives that serve the community. He highlighted how cooperating with KWB last year to further the noble ambitions of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah was a step forward for the department and the district councils in implementing cultural initiatives that are launched in Sharjah.

For his part, Rashid Al Kous reviewed KWB’s vision to promote a culture of reading in Sharjah. He showcased the main initiatives launched by the project, most notably; ‘Library for Every Home’, which will see one million books distributed to 20,000 Emirati families, each household receiving 50 titles and the ‘On-Board Library’, which was launched in collaboration with Air Arabia and Mobile Library. He also shed light on KWB’s newest initiative ‘1001 Titles’, which aimed to publish 1001 Emirati books in the following two years. Launched in mid-November last year the project complements the UAE’s ‘Year of Reading 2016’.

“We have started putting into operation the second part of the third phase of the Library for Every Home initiative by handing out 250,000 books to 5,000 Emirati families in Sharjah. Officials of DVAD and members of councils have played a crucial role facilitating KWB’s missions by encouraging Emirati families to benefit from KWB’s free-of-charge initiative, which is an important pillar from which they can build their home library. This meeting seeks to discuss the right means of distributing the books and creating the libraries,” said Rashid Al Kous.

Knowledge without Borders was launched as an initiative by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah and is closely supervised and supported by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Head of the Organising Committee of KWB.